Int'l consortium gives up oil project in Caspian Sea

Asian Economic News, April 19, 1999

MOSCOW, April 16 Kyodo

An international consortium that includes Japan's Itochu Corp. has decided to withdraw from an oil exploration project in the Caspian Sea, sources close to the consortium said Friday. The consortium, North Apsheron Operating Co. (NAOC), made the decision because it has been unable to confirm commercially viable deposits of oil off the Azerbaijan capital of Baku, the sources said. NAOC is owned by Japanese trading house Itochu, BP Amoco PLC of Britain, Unocal Corp. of the United States, Delta Niimir Co. of Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR. Since an accord on the development project was reached in December 1996, the consortium has been conducting test drilling in three locations about 60 kilometers from the Apsheron Peninsula near Baku. Itochu also has a stake in Azerbaijan International Operating Co., the only international consortium to have full drilling operations in the area, as well as in another consortium set up last December. NAOC will become the first consortium with a Japanese firm to withdraw from a Caspian Sea oil project, industry sources said.